​The Saddle That Came Home: A Real-Life Christmas Story

Seven years ago, I received what I can only describe as a miraculous Christmas gift from my husband, a gift wrapped not in paper and ribbon, but in fate, love, and the kind of serendipity that makes you believe in miracles.

Over the years, I've had many horses, after my daughter stopped showing, when I found myself momentarily without horses. It was during that season that I made the practical, if bittersweet, decision to sell my tack. My friend Roxanne, deeply connected in the horse world, could pass off my English tack more easily than I could. Among those pieces was my beloved Pessoa saddle…a saddle that had carried me through lessons, trail rides and my daughters shows and gadabouts and many... many memories.
I had mentioned that saddle to Grant in passing conversations over the years. I'd told him how much I'd loved it, how perfectly it fit but buying a new one wasn't practical. After all, I wasn't competing …just "plugging around here on the farm," as I'd say with a shrug. A fancy saddle seemed unnecessary..

Grant, being Grant, had filed that information away...
During one of his Army travels, I think he was in Ohio or Indiana at the time, Grant stumbled upon a used tack store. And there, among the rows of saddles and bridles and dusty horse dreams, he found a used Pessoa saddle. He snatched it up without hesitation and brought it home to surprise me. When he presented it to me, I was absolutely blown away. It looked exactly like my old saddle! The leather worn I was pretty much in shock at the coincidence, And then I looked closer. It was my saddle.
The girth that came with it, our old schooling girth… still bore the name "Chipper" in faded marker, the name of our beloved pony. And there, written alongside it, was the name Sharon Frankhouser, the wonderful horsey-gal who used to warm up Chipper before shows..

The saddle I had purchased nineteen years prior, the saddle that had carried my daughter through her showing years, the saddle I'd reluctantly let go, had somehow, impossibly, miraculously…found its way back home.
Grant had unknowingly bought my own saddle and brought it back to me...

Seven years ago, with heart full, I saddled up old Chipper (in her 20’s) with my saddle ..the one I thought I'd lost forever. That ride was one of the most sentimental of my life, sacred.
They say, "Sell the horse, but never sell your saddle." I didn't understand the weight of that wisdom until mine came home. A saddle carries more than a rider, it carries history, connection, dreams, and the invisible threads that bind us to the people and animals we've loved.
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That Pessoa saddle sits on the railing of our balcony today, still bearing Chipper's name, still holding all those memories. And every time I see it, I'm reminded that some things are meant to find their way back to us. Some gifts are practical. Some gifts are thoughtful. And some like a husband who travels hundreds of miles and unknowingly brings your history back home, are nothing short of magic.